Skip to main content

What's missing from the encyclopedia? This artist aims to fill in the gaps

caption: Tavares Strachan speaks at TED2023 in Vancouver, BC, Canada.
Enlarge Icon
Tavares Strachan speaks at TED2023 in Vancouver, BC, Canada.
TED

Part 3 of the TED Radio Hour episode "How taking a second look can change your everything"

At an early age, Tavares Strachan noticed there was a lot missing from his family's encyclopedia. Today, the artist searches for lost stories to include in his own Encyclopedia of Invisibility.

About Tavares Strachan

Tavares Strachan is a conceptual artist from the Bahamas. In 2005, he gained acclaim for his conceptual artwork The Distance Between What We Have and What We Want, for which he extracted a 4.5-ton block of Arctic ice and exhibited it in a solar-powered freezer in the Bahamas. His work, The Encyclopedia of Invisibility, features thousands of entries focused on historically marginalized individuals, places and events.

Strachan is a MacArthur Fellow.

This segment of the TED Radio Hour was produced by Rachel Faulkner White and edited by Sanaz Meshkinpour. You can follow us on Facebook @TEDRadioHourand email us at TEDRadioHour@npr.org.

Web Resources

Related TED Bio: Tavares Strachan
Related TED Talk: The power of an image — and the mind behind it
Related TED Talk: A 3-step guide to believing in yourself

Related NPR Links

Fresh Air: For painter Titus Kaphar, forgiveness is 'a weight lifted off of your shoulders'
The Picture Story: A look at the Met Museum's exhibition on Black dandyism
Fine Art: Painter Amy Sherald asks: What is American?

Why you can trust KUOW
Close
On Air Shows

Print

Print

Play Audio
 Live Now On KUOW
KUOW Live Stream
On Air Shows

Print

Print

Play Audio
Local Newscast
The Latest
View All
    Play Audio